Cerebellar function, dyslexia and articulation speed

Abstract

The main aims of this study were a) to assess the cerebellar deficit hypothesis examining children's performance in cerebellar and cognitive tasks associated with the dyslexic syndrome and b) to investigate if there is a differentiation in articulation speed in children with dyslexia. A battery consisted of five cerebellar tests, five cognitive tests, and an articulation speed test was administered to three age- and sex-matched groups of dyslexics, children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and normal readers aged 8-12 years. The dyslexics showed significant impairment in one cerebellar test compared with the control group and in two cognitive tests compared with both the control and the ADHD group. Additionally, the dyslexic children performed significantly worse than the control group during the articulation speed test; such a difference was not observed between the control and the ADHD group. The present study provides clues to support the cerebellar deficit hypothesis and the possible relationship between reading impairment and speed of articulation. Further research is considered essential to clarify the relationship between cerebellar function, dyslexia, and oral language speed.